Word: sidi
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...first phase of battle the British sent columns shoot ing into the desert to isolate the various Axis cantonments and fortresses. Each column had as its objective certain vital highways and desert tracks. Three of them had as their eventual rendezvous a key point on the biggest Axis highway, Sidi Rezegh. The fourth (mechanized New Zealanders) cut north behind Axis forts on the Egyptian border, isolating them from the rear; then split and hurried along the coast, isolating coastal strongholds like Bardia and Gambut. In that operation the Fleet assisted. With control of land highways, with control...
...mechanized snails into Iraq and Syria. He had worked like a Trojan. One day he would stand on a hill in Eritrea straining his one good eye through a one-barreled glass, peering across at the Eyeties' vulnerabilities; next day he would stir up his field staff in Sidi Barrãni; then he would calm the fears of Egyptian politicians; fly to Crete; visit headquarters in Palestine; spend a day at his desk in Cairo. Now he was not as sharp as he had been: his Syrian effort was going lazily, his action at Hellfire Pass last month...
...coast, as the Italians had struck last fall; the wiser Germans drove on a broad front, in first three, then five columns. The southernmost columns were deep in the desert, out of effective naval range. In a few hours the Germans pushed 40 miles, almost as far as Sidi Barrani...
...natural obstacles in the desert and because preparation of mechanized forces for a big offensive cannot be concealed." Two mornings later Sir Archibald Wavell called twelve crack war correspondents into his Cairo office and calmly announced: "Gentlemen, this morning at dawn our troops opened attack against Italian positions at Sidi Barrani." Then his grim mouth relaxed into a smile as he added: "It would be interesting to know whether any of you had any idea the attack started?" Most of these veteran journalists had been out in the desert for weeks, watching every maneuver - but not one answered. History knows...
...Sidi Barr#&226;ni, where Britain won its first land victory...